Elevator



G. N. RE-IFP.

- ELEVATOR.

'(No Model.)

Patented Apr. 3

WITNESSES:

N. PEI'ERS, Phuwumu n her, wamin mn. n C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUSTAVUS N. REIFF, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ELEVATO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 275,080, dated April 3, 1883.

Application filed January 15, 1883.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GUSTAVUS N. REIFF, of the city and county of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Elevators, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof.

My invention relates to the class of devices employed in both passenger and baggage hoists to arrest the descent of the car, cage, or platform should the lifting devices break; and it is of especial applicability to the class of elevator-cars which are suspended upon and raised and lowered by rope.

My invention consists in a safety frictionclutch of the character hereinafter described and claimed,which is adapted to automatically arrest the descent of the car or platform upon such breakage of the lifting or lowering devices as would otherwise occasion the fall of said car or platform.

In the accompanying drawings,Figure 1 represents in front elevation a preferred form of a convenient embodiment of my invention applied to the frame of an open car. Fig. 2 is a perspective detail viewed from a point within the elevator-well of a portion of the false crosshead, a portion of one of the side frames, and one of the guides or ways, showing also one of the cams, its tubular bearing, and link-connection, with the fork of the false cross-head. Fig. 3 is an exterior elevational detail of the operation of one set of cams thrown into bite upon the way, against the face of which they travel by the breakage of the rope and the descent of the false cross-head under the recoil of its springs. Fig. 4 is a perspective detail of the false cross-head, showing one of its forks; and Fig. 5 is a similar view of one of the cams.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

In the accompanying drawings, A A represent the guides or ways, between which the car travels.

B is the platform of the car, from which are erected side frames, 0, conformed to fit over and travel against the guides. The side frames are connected by a fixed cross-head, D.

E is a wire rope or kindred contrivance, through the instrumentality of which the car and its connected side frames and fixed cross- (No model.)

head are raised or lowered. The ropeis affixed at its lower extremity to a vertical keeper, F, which passes freely through the fixed crosshead, and is rigidly connected to a false crosshead, G,which extends longitudinally beneath the fixed cross-head D, and is bifurcated at both its extremities to form forks g, which freely embrace the side frames of the car.

Spiral or other springs 1 are interposed between the fixed crosshead and the false crosshead, and tend to throw the latter down and away from the former, being compressed when the weight of the car is borne upon the rope. The springs, during the above period, are, of course, compressed up to the limitof theircompression, and the weight of the car borne by the false cross-head, upon which thecaris then in effect suspended.

Affixed to the side frames, below the forks of the false cross-head, are two transversetubular bearings, J, which extend flush with the outer faces of the side frames and carry the shafts of eccentric disks orcams K,which areoppositely hung, and which are preferably serrated or otherwise roughened upon their perimeters. From these cams, in opposite directions, are projected cam-levers k, the outer extremities of which are connected by means of links L with the extremities of the forks of the false crosshead. The operating-faces of the cams (which are set in opposing pairs)-that is to say, their perimeters-are set to face the side ofthe guides or ways against which the car travels, and in the set of the parts are so disposed that when the car is suspended from the false cross-head and the springs compressed the forks, through theinstrumentality of thelinks and cam-levers, rotate the cams into such position that they do not press against the sides of the ways, while upon any breakage of the rope the recoil of the springs, throwing down the false cross-head, through the instrumentality of the links and cam-levers, occasions such rotation of the cams as to throw their operating-faces against the ways and occasion a very firm grip or compression of the ways between the opposing pairs of cams, which grip increases in strength with the weight upon the car.

Such being a description of a-preferred form of apparatus embodying my invention, it will be readily understood that the operation of the cams as safety-clutches to the car arises only upon a breakage or sudden or undue slackage of the rope, inasmuch as so long as the rope remains intact the weight of the car is, as stated, borne upon the false cross-head and the cams are inert-that is to say, so deflected as not to be in bite upon the wayswhereas upon the breakage or sudden or undue slackage of the rope the cams are at once thrown into bite through the recoil of the springs carrying the keeper, then unrestained, and the false cross-head down.

I am aware of a safety-stop for elevators patented in and by United States Letters Patent No. 227,799, and to the specific combination and arrangement of devices therein described and claimed I make no claim, as the gist of my invention resides in the specific arrangement of parts recited in my claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 20 In an elevator safety-clutch device, the combination, with the cage, of the keeper connected with the lifting-rope on the one hand and with the false cross-head upon the other, the springs, the false cross-head provided with the 2 5 forks, the links, and the eccentric disks provided with the levers and adapted to the tubular bearings, substantially as shown and described, and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereofl have hereunto signed 0 my name this 13th day of January, A. D;l883.

GUSTAVUS N. REIFF. In presence of- J. BoNsALL TAYLOR, FRANK A. MULLIKIN. 

